


Arc Reactor + Mischief = Plasma Bolts?

by Louiseflower117



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Deviates From Canon, Deviates from canon after AoU, M/M, Mostly family drama and fluff, Other canon characters will pop in and out, Parent AU, Parent Loki, Parent Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-08-30 13:52:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8535682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louiseflower117/pseuds/Louiseflower117
Summary: Loki and Tony have been together for nearly 16 years now, in a kind of off and on relationship with the invasion and Loki's imprisonment and such, but now it has developed in a stable, if still mostly secret relationship; but then one day someone unexpected turns up that rocks the boat.





	1. Unexpected Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> This is an unbeta'd (like just about everything else I've ever put on this site) story, so sorry for any little mistakes you might come across. Hope you enjoy!

“There's someone here to see you."   
"Tell them I'm in a meeting or something."   
"They said either you see them now, or they go tell Thor about all the lies and mischief you've been getting up to."   
"Tell them to-" Tony stopped still, looking round at Pepper stood in the doorway to his lab, clipboard in hand, considering him with that faced she used where she seemed bored with his existence as a petulant child.

'Getting up to mischief and lies...' well that sounded a lot like they knew he was 'doing' Loki. But only Banner and Nat knew. Well, he thought Nat knew, she always raised an eyebrow in just such a way whenever he made up some excuse to the rest of the gang. And Banner, well Banner may have walked into a passionate make out session taking place against his desk, while both he and Loki were in the process of stripping. He hadn't even turned a little green, much to Tony's disappointment and Loki's thankfulness, although he did ask for a new desk the next day. Maybe it was Loki, playing some sort of silly game: wouldn't be the first time.

"Tony?"   
"Hmm? Oh, send them in."   
"O-kay."

Tony sat down on the stool, leaning against his desk with its gathered clutter of many little tinkering projects. Right now it was mainly Ironman hands, in various stages of deconstruction. He brushed some of the metal dust off his t-shirt and looked up to see his guest standing in the lab door, looking so completely at home there it was unreal.

Short black hair, fringe pushed to one side of their forehead, wearing a black tank top revealing quite a slender frame, with black jeans and dark green converse, the same colour green as Loki's standard outfit was, but the eyes were a blue he knew very well. It was the same shade that stared back at him every time he looked in the mirror. This kid could only be about 14, maybe 15 at a push. Loki wouldn't do that, but who was this child to have maybe figured out the best kept secret ever?

"Alright then, just who the hell do you think you are? Barging into my lab, threatening to spread lies about me?" Tony went to take a dramatic sip out of his coffee mug, only to realise that it had long gone cold, and promptly putting it back down on the bench.

"Well, I think I'm your child."

Tony was glad he hadn't been drinking now, but he was still choking: his nightmare come to life, having a kid out there that thought he was some deadbeat that walked out on their mum, or worse having to deal with what would feel like a lie, that you were the product of a drunken hookup with Tony Stark.

"Please don't choke to death."   
"Kid, look, turn around and walk out. You don't want a screw up like me on your family tree, go make something of yourself."   
"Already did that, thought I'd try and find out who my parents were now."

Tony looked up, giving one little cough as he gave them another look, before giving a sceptical look.

"I was kinda a... hitman... for a bit at least, but that got boring so I hacked the British government and China and the Pentagon and a few others, mixed things up a little before they started a bidding war trying to recruit me, and well now I'm here, hoping that if nothing else you'll be able to DNA test me."   
"You know you can get a DNA test from pretty much anywhere right?"   
"Yeah, they all said my DNA wasn't even from earth, let alone human so... maybe your friend Doctor Banner can help me with that?"

It was a lot of information, very fast, and in no clear order.

"Wait, so what makes you think you're my kid? Just cos you hacked the Pentagon at the age of 12-"   
"I was 9,"   
"-okay that's impressive, who taught you that?"   
"I taught myself using the books and computers in the local library, my adopted  parents didn't want me working out that wasn't their actual child I guess, so i didn't get any sort of technology from them."

Tony blinked, before turning round to face the clutter on his desk. Behind him, he could hear footsteps, but they only avoided him to stand in front of other work benches, before he heard something get picked up.

"You really build all this yourself? I mean it's flashy and all, but it's hardly an aerodynamic design."   
"Are you picking faults with Ironman?"   
"It could have a more efficient design if you weren't so dramatic."   
"I need some more coffee." Tony answered, picking up the cold mug and leaving this strange kid.

"Hey, what's your name?"   
"Oh, everyone just calls me Ty."   
"Ty? Right..."

Clicking the coffee machine into life, Tony let out a shaky breath as he leant back against the cold stone counter.

"Friday, run a complete DNA analysis on our friend Ty downstairs,"   
"Yes sir."   
"The test will not be necessary Antony."

Tony took a sip of coffee, wondering if a caffeine buzz was really going to help the situation, before he looked round at Loki. The Norse god had been gone a few days, doing who knows what, but that was no longer than normal.

"And just why is that then? Let me guess, god of lies, can tell they're lying?"   
"Ty is your child Antony, they only figured it out recently, but I have known since before they were born."   
"Loks, the kid is only just over 14. 15 and a half years ago the only one I'd been banging was you. So who exactly is the mother of that kid?"

Loki looked about ready to slap him for his stupidity, which Tony found a little rude, until a light bulb pinged into life above his head.

“You mean that kid in my lab right now is OUR CHILD?"   
"Yes, I was going to tell you, but-"   
"It was never the right time? Was that why you were gone for nearly nine months then? You KNOW how much I'd worried that I'd fucked up, and you NEVER explained to me, and-"   
"Antony, I'm sorry, but I didn't want to cause you more stress and worry than you already had."   
"And you didn't think that maybe knowing I was a dad would be a good thing rather than a bad thing?"   
"I freely admit that I wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have been. There is nothing I can do about it now, much as I wish I could."   
"So you abandoned our child to strangers."   
"They were the perfect couple, and they promised me they would keep them safe, happy."   
"They were just telling me that their parents tried to hide the truth from them!"   
"That was also my doing."

Tony glared up at Loki, and to be fair on him, the god looked ashamed with himself. Yet the anger was still there, bubbling under the surface.

"Hey, how long does it take you to get coffee?"

Ty walked round the counter, head down as they examined a piece of circuitry before looking up and locking eyes with Loki. The next few moments were a little bit of a blur for Tony, which ended with him flat on his back on the floor.

Ty's right hand was raised, smoke trailing from between their fingers, and a perfectly round plasma burn was centred on Loki's chest, having clearly been strong enough to burn through the several layers of fabric and almost enough to break the god's skin.

"Wow there, Ty, chill a bit, Loki-"   
"Loki should take himself outta here, seeing as he's already attempted to ruin my life multiple times."   
"Ty, listen, listen to your old man-"   
"Yeah, you probably don't want your abandoned kid to kill the guy you're fucking."

Tony planted a hand on the counter and pulled himself to his feet, stepping up to Ty and putting steadying hands on their shoulders, though who it was meant to be steadying Tony wasn't really sure.

"I did not abandon you, hear me? If I had had ANY idea that you MIGHT even have existed, I would have found you and done the best I could to be a decent dad to you." Giving Ty's shoulders a comforting squeeze, he noticed how skinny the kid really was.

"But you didn't know I existed, so it's not your fault right?" Ty huffed back, pulling away almost half heartedly all before shooting a glare over a Loki.

"Well, now you know I guess. I'll leave you to carry on tinkering and whatever."   
"Ty, you are a Stark, you belong in this tower, with your father Antony."

Ty paused, turning to glare back at Loki, and this time Tony got a much better look at Ty's plasma bolt.

It started with blue and silver sparks moving from fingertips to palms, spiraling into a perfect sphere of silver-blue energy that they threw directly at Loki, hitting him on the shoulder as he attempted to flinch out of the way. It burnt through the leather and fabric straight to the skin, leaving another scorch mark.

"Don't you even dare speak to me, how stupid do you think I am? I've seen you watching me, for as long as I can remember you were there, always in the corner of my eye. Whatever game you were playing, it ends now."

Loki hung his head, unable to meet Ty's eyes, burning with hate as they were, and Tony suddenly felt very small.

"Ty, much as you probably don't want to hear this, he's right. You're a Stark, you're my kid, you belong here."   
"I don’t need your pity, I get along just fine on my own. I just... I thought maybe it would be nice to know the guy who donated half my genetics, clearly I didn't realise how much of a disappointment you'd be."

Tony stood there, completely and utterly powerless as Ty walked away.

Slumping back against the counter, Tony ran a hand roughly through his hair, staring through the floor, until a hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality.

"Antony, I'm so sorry that it turned out like this."   
"You were watching them, right? Making sure they turned out alright, didn't let them do anything stupidly reckless?"   
"Yes, of course. I was trying to find a way to make our family unit come together."   
"And the plasma bolts?"   
"An unforeseeable consequence of mixing human DNA with mine."

Tony stayed silent for a while, wondering just what cruel twist of fate had decided to play out against him. ”Friday, run a search on Ty,”   


* * *

 

“Parameters too vague. “   
“Nearly 14-”   
“Tyler Bewick, born November 18th, 2002.”

Tony glanced round as Loki filled in the missing details, as Friday started to compile a database.

“Database ready.”   
“A brief summary please Friday.”   
“Tyler Bewick, commonly know as Ty or PlasmaRay. Worked as a ‘cyber hitman’, exposing people for various crimes that lead to prosecution or execution. After hacking the Pentagon, MI6 and the Chinese government each in under two minutes, they were eventually hired by Russia as a cyber operative at the age of 11. They have since become independent and now work as an online vigilante exposing the corrupt.”   
“Even without our guidance, Ty has done well on their own.”

Tony stared down at the work table in front of him, seeing that one of his circuits had been completely reworked. The configuration was completely alien to him, but on in a whim he plugged it back into the Ironman hand it was a part of.

“That doesn’t excuse the fact that you never told me, or that I have missed the first 14 years of my child's life.”   
“Antony, if I could change that now-”   
“You would in a heartbeat, I get it. But now I have to find and convince them to give me a chance.”


	2. Chapter 2

That mystery chip Ty had apparently made in two minutes on the fly was a wondrous creation.

It was part of the hovering mechanism, and since he'd put the entire suit back together, he'd had to recalibrate the entire power supply to the left arm, the chip was so damn efficient. It now took less than a tenth of the power supply than the right counterpart did. But try as he might, he couldn't replicate the circuit, every attempt resulted in a small explosion or spontaneous combustion when he tried to put power through it.

“Loki, come here and tell me that there isn't magic being used to make this.”

Loki let the tiny piece of technology be dropped into the palm of his hand, before instantly dropping it as it burnt his skin.

“Not just magic, but magic coded to resist tampering or apparently me touching it.”

Tony picked it up off the floor, seeing that even landing on the hard cement hadn't even scratched it. Clearly magic.

“Ty hates you that much they coded all their magical objects to burn you?”   
“Unlikely, but most spells cast accidentally generally tend to reflect some of the feelings as the caster, and as you saw, Ty is not overly fond of me.”   
“Yeah. But Ty  _ accidentally _ cast a spell? How does that even work?”   
“Antony, whenever mortals and gods crossbreed, there are never predictable results. I am sure that Ty is completely unaware that they even have any magic at all.”   
“So our genius kid has magically powers and doesn't even realise it. What are the chances that Ty doesn't manage to get themselves killed with accidental magic? Or arrested?”   
“Ty seems to have mastered the plasma bolt aspect their magic has gifted them, it's likely they can keep the rest under control.”

Tony huffed a little, not entirely convinced by Loki's confidence but willing to let the subject drop so he could go back to studying the tiny magical marvel that was Ty's creation.

* * *

"Friday, scan for any activity from Ty.”   
“Only recent activity involves payments made for fuel for a camper van and food.”   
“Camper van? Find the plate number and use the traffic cameras to track it for me. If it's anywhere close by enough to visit, let me know.”

Tony went back to tinkering, this time it was on designs for Veronica 2.0, seeing how badly the first one seemed to do. Banner was wandering in and out of the lab every so often with all sorts of ideas and critiques.

“Sir, Ty’s camper van has just parked up outside a diner fifteen minutes flight distance.”   
“Thanks Friday, prep the suit and put a route together.”   
“Where you flying off to now?”

Tony looked round at the mildly accusatory expression Bruce was wearing, feeling that it was a little uncalled for seeing as Banner had no reason to be disappointed with him; not yet at least.

“Just, running a test flight.”   
“To go see someone called Ty?”   
“They… helped me out a bit with the suit, thought they might like to see it in action.”   
“You’re telling me that you, Tony Stark, let someone else tinker with the Ironman suit?”   
“Well, didn’t let them but-”   
“Who are you and what have you done with Tony?”

Rolling his eyes at the comment, Tony suited up and let the autopilot get him to the particular diner Ty was supposed to be in.

* * *

 

The little bit of parking outside the diner was practically empty, but the head’s up display told Tony that the simple dark blue camper van with the black curtains drawn across the windows was the vehicle Ty was driving. That was if the kid was driving, they were probably too young.

“Is that Ironman?”   
“Oh my god it is!”   
“It’s Tony Stark!”

Tuning out the background chatter, Tony walked up to the diner counter and plonked himself down on a stool directly next to Ty, who glanced over and instantly elected not to acknowledge Tony existed to go back to eating the stack of french toast drenched in maple syrup on the plate in front of them.

“What can I get for ya then?”   
“Coffee and a cheeseburger.”

The waitress poured him a coffee before moving on to the next person in line.

“So kid, about that chip you left for me…”

Ty looked round with a slight glare, made considerably less effective by the maple syrup stuck crumbs of french toast on the left corner of their mouth, but reminded Tony of the way Loki always glared at him, normally before mumbling something along the lines of ‘stupid mortals’.

“Your design was inefficient and liable to exploding if you tried to run more than 90 gigawatts through it, and 90 gigawatts would be enough to run the thrusters at 100% output and achieve mach 1, that’s if you kept the same hideously un-aerodynamic design you seem to love so much.”   
“And just what makes you think I want to be able to travel at the speed of sound?”

Ty raised an eyebrow at him even as he asked it.

“Okay yeah, going at the speed of sound would be pretty damn cool. Not sure the suit would cope with the air resistance.”   
“Hence the need for a more aerodynamic design, or for a better alloy to use as the main plating.The only thing I could think of would be a titanium-vibranium blend.”

Tony leant back a little to let his mind fully consider the possibility: no one had ever really thought of using vibranium in an alloy before; wasn't exactly much need to improve upon it. A cheeseburger was placed in front of him, and on autopilot he took a large bite, still lost in a world of trying to imagine the near limitless uses of vibranium alloys.

“I gotta say kid, that sounds like an awesome idea. The only trouble would be getting hold of enough vibranium and finding the right ratio for the alloy.”   
“I think a bench mark 5 to 1 of titanium to vibranium would be a good place to start, but yeah… materials are the issue… or I'd have already started experimenting with it.”

Tony gave Ty a sideways look as they mopped up the drizzle of maple syrup with the last corner of french toast. Right now, it almost seemed like they were part of a normal family.

Tony should have known it wouldn’t last long.

He over stepped the mark, he realised that when he was snapping his hand close back to his chest, the burning pain only growing in intensity as Ty stared at him wide eyes, at least as shocked if not more so, that silver-blue sparks had scorched their way across Tony’s palm and wrist just from the simple touch at their shoulder: there hadn’t been anything malicious in it, just a simple gesture. But Ty had flinched and Tony had been burnt.

Ty bolted. Door of the dinner swinging closed behind them faster than Tony could realise what was happening.


	3. Chapter 3

“Anyone with an ounce of intelligence could have informed you that your plan was destined to fail.”  
“Thanks for the vote of confidence Antlers.”

Loki ignored the rather annoying nickname, and the bitter tone to Tony’s comment, as he continued to administer a simple healing spell to the burn; on the surface, it wasn’t that big: thankfully not much of Tony’s hand had actually made contact with Ty, or the damage would have been considerably worse.

“Hold still Antony, or I will not be able to heal the damage to the underlying muscles, and you can say goodbye to tinkering through the night in your workshop.”  
“Yeah well if you didn’t make it sting like it was full of salt-”   
“I said I could heal it, not that it would be painless experience.”

Tony bit back the retort trying to fight its way to being voiced, knowing that it would do no good to make Loki even more annoyed with him. He _had_ fucked up, but Ty had more than seen to him realising that without Loki adding insult to injury, _literally_ . Wincing as he suddenly regained feeling in one of his fingers where the skin was still a little torn and singed, Tony ignored the mothering, _‘I told you to keep still’_ look Loki shot him, because god dammit it hurt!

“I assumed that after you witnessed how potent Ty’s magic was that you would refrain from doing anything to make them turn it against you.”  
“Didn’t know that a friendly pat on the back as going to get me burnt, let alone with the same blue- spark- plasma- things! that managed to hurt you, or do you really think I’m that stupid?”

For once, Loki chose not to respond, merely focusing on getting the last layers of skin to knit back together, leaving the area just had it had been before, if a little pinker and sensitive than normal. Stretching it out, all the damage and accompanying pain was gone without a trace.

“Thanks Loki.”  
“Just promise me you will not anger our child against us even more than they are.”   
“I’ll try not to, but I’m still not entirely sure how I’m meant to go about getting us to be a decent family if they’re shooting off plasma bolts every time you show up and will only really speak to me if it's what you call ‘workshop talk’.”   
“Maybe that will a good enough base to build something resembling a family structure upon.”   
“Antlers, some of us only have _mere mortal_ lifespans.”

* * *

 

“Friday, bring up the database on Ty.”

Multiple screens popped up with pages upon pages of information on everything from the camper van that appeared to be their home, to employment records to all the different crimes they’d been charged with.

“It seems that Ty is not overly liked by Midgardian authorities.”

Loki in the workshop was an oddity enough that Tony actually glanced round from where he was studying the nano-processor design that Ty had posted a critique about: on the surface, it had looked like petty nit-picking, but underneath it showed a serious flaw in the design.

“They inherited more than just a little magic from you then it seems.”  
“I hardly think that you are a suitable moral role-model either Antony.”   
“I didn’t try and take over the world with an alien army.”   
“You did however create an AI intelligence that attempted to destroy the world and all humanity.”   
“Okay we’re both terrible role-models, but I’m sure Capsicle and Bruce wouldn’t let us turn Ty into a villain.”

Going back to skimming through the seemingly endless amount of data that various governments had collected about Ty, Tony noticed something that confirmed an earlier suspicion.

“Friday, where’s Ty’s driving license?”  
“There is no record of one sir.”   
“Not even a provisional?”   
“Correct sir.”

More searching, and another little irregularity popped up.

“Ty doesn’t have any travel records but managed to get transport between who knows how many countries on somebody else’s dime… In fact, most of their funds seem to be coming from this same source…”

Loki watched with mild curiosity as Tony furiously typed on holographic keyboards and grew both more frustrated and more intrigued by the moment, all the while lines traced across a small representation of the world, before stopping at one small spot somewhere in the north east of Africa. Zooming in close, Loki noticed a national flag that Tony apparently recognised.

“I should have guessed that bloody cat would be involved in all this somehow.”  
“Cat? To whom are you referring Antony?”   
“King T’Challa.”

* * *

 

”Your Highness.”  
“Stark.”   
“So why have you been funding my child?”

T’Challa put the tumbler of scotch back down on the marble bar, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Ty? Tyler Bewick?”

No recognition what so ever, with the confusion clearly only deepening.

“PlasmaRay?”  
“Oh. The child with a gift for coding and mechanics, yes, they have been one of our assets for quite a while now, ever since leaving the Russians. I had no idea that they were _your_ child, but I should have realised anyone with that kind of mechanical skill was of Stark blood.”   
“Thanks… I think.”   
“They are remarkably gifted, but you should know that they are not the easiest of people to get along with, even when you have their respect and… to some extent… friendship.”

Tony downed most of the contents of his glass in one go, refilling it the second after he’d put it back on the counter, trying not to grit his teeth or get angry. He _had_ already found that out for himself, but knowing that it was possible and he just wasn’t good at it stung.

“Great, so my kid is friends with a king who can provide them with literally anything they could ever want or need. Now am I supposed to compete with that?”  
“If it helps, they have heard mostly positive things about you from me.”   
“Great, a warm welcome from someone they actually like! Come on, there’s a trick or secret or _something_ that you can share with me about them that I use.”   
“You are approaching this like it's a mission, like it's a puzzle. PlasmaRay is not a puzzle, they are a child: with an extraordinary gift I grant you, but children are not puzzles.”   
“Everything is a puzzle if you look at it from the right angle.”

T’Challa looked decidedly unconvinced by that argument, but thought better than trying to argue with Tony about it, especially as he was downing what must have been the fourth tumbler of scotch at the least.

“Too bad you can’t get Ty actually in Wakanda, what with your anti-mutant laws and all, which is probably what you think they are right?”  
“Are you saying that they are _not_ a mutant?”   
“Come on, your people must have been the ones that tried to help Ty scan their DNA on the quest to figuring out who their parents are right?”   
“Correct, but we assumed the mutation was so advanced that it made their DNA appear so… inhuman.”   
“We?”   
“Myself, Ty, the experts we contacted.”   
“What experts?”   
“Our own, several American and European geneticists, The Xavier Institute for Higher Learnin-”   
“The X-Men? You went to the X-Men?!”   
“They are obviously the leading authority on mutants, but they were unable to help us. Since then they asked me to stop trying to look for their answers that way, now I assume that they had some other source that informed them that **you** were the parent they were looking for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very odd chapter which turned out to be mostly just talking and honestly I'm gonna blame that on me having written most of this while ill, but I hope you at least still enjoyed it. But I did realise that I'm not entirely sure what direction I'm gonna end up taking this yet, could get interesting.


	4. Reconstituted Families

”Friday, where is Ty’s camper van right now?”

“Currently parked in the carpark of Avenger Tower.”  
“Wait, what?!”   
“They have been visiting Vision every other Wednesday for the last eleven weeks.”   
“What? Friday why didn't you tell me this?”   
“It was part of the database I compiled at your request.”

Tony grumbled to himself as he walked away, heading down the corridor and the elevator to Vision’s floor. It was basic and bare, but functional enough for his limited needs. Ty was already there, in the little kitchen area, with Vision sat on the sofa along with a random girl. Her hair was long and dyed pastel blue that faded into darker and darker blue until it reached her waist where it was a deep navy. She was wearing what looked like sports gear, black skin tight vest top and knee length matching running shorts with bright orange around the seams on both.

Everyone looked round as Tony walked through the door, tension instantly palpable in the room.

“Ah, Tony. I wondered when you would discover our little meetings.”

Tony shot Vision a single glare, before glancing back at Ty in the kitchen, looking decidedly more relaxed than he had ever seen them. Clearly, this of all places was somewhere they felt safe.

“Are you just gonna stand in the doorway or are you gonna come sit down?”

The mystery girl seemed completely unfazed by his presence, and her request didn't seem to have been approved by either Vision or Ty, who both gave her questioning looks.

“What? That is kinda the point of these meetings isn't it? And surely your dad is gonna be of help trying to find your mum, right?”  
“Wow wow, you're having meetings to try and find out who Ty's mother is?”   
“Well that's not the _sole_ purpose but it _is_ something we’re trying to figure out.”

Tony took a moment to process it all, before coming to plonk himself down on the sofa between Vision and the armrest, idly watching Ty walk round to place a tray of cookies, still warm out of the oven, down on the coffee table.

“So, who the hell are you?” Tony directed at the girl as she reached over to grab herself a cookie.  
“Kirsten, I’m Ty’s handler for-”   
“For King T’Challa, Wakanda… right. And these meetings started because…?”   
“Vision had information for me regarding my parents; he found me and we started these meetings in order to find who my mother is, to work on my powers and… to work on my application to the Avengers.”

Tony nodded, processing it, as he grabbed himself a cookie as well. It made at least some sense, there were still a few gaps and the exact reasoning of why you would chose to have secret meetings, but that didn’t make much difference at this point.

“Okay, I still have a lot of questions. First off, who made these cookies?”  
“I did, my adopted mother was a baker.” Ty answered.   
“Well these are great. Second off then, how did Vision know you were my kid?”   
“I was reliably informed by sources trustworthy on the topic of Tony Stark.” Vision answered. Tony gave him a look, but apparently Vision wasn’t going to rat his source in any time soon.

“I told him.”

Everyone turned to look as Loki walked in, but Tony noticed the visible flinch Ty gave. In the time it took Loki to take two steps forward, Ty was stood, arms up and the plasma sparks already spiraling around from wrist to elbow.

“As I have said many times before, I intend you no harm Ty.”  
“And I’ll ask you again, why I should believe that.”

Kirsten stood slowly, stepping in front of Ty, mostly obscuring Loki from their view, but not completely. Even that small move, and there were less sparks already, but that seemed mostly because Ty clearly didn't want anyone to get caught in the crossfire.

“Ty, think this through.”  
“I am thinking it through, and it doesn’t make any sense!”   
“Yes it does.” Tony countered, scrambling up to stand next to Kirsten, trying not to let himself stare at the potentially very dangerous sparks only inches away from him now. “Whatever the hell Antlers over there did to make you hate him, I get it. But he does know me pretty well, probably too well all considering his track history, but family is important to me, that he knows. You’re family Ty. You’re part of this crazy mess of people now.”

Ty's arms slowly lowered, as each spark seemed to curl up and be reabsorbed in at the wrist. Only when the last spark was gone did Kirsten seem to relax and stand down, stepping backwards out of the way, job apparently done. But Ty didn't look calm; just more in control.

“You really think I'm family, when you didn't know I existed a month ago?”  
“Happy surprise? Look, the whole situation is a mess, but unless you can use that magic of yours to build a time machine, we start being a proper family from now on. Or at least the best this tower can provide.”

Ty blinked up at Tony, clearly calculating whether they could actually trust and believe in what he was saying. Trying to not show just how nervous he was, Tony tentatively put his hands around Ty’s thin shoulders again, letting out the breath he was holding at not getting burnt this time. There was only the smallest of flinches, but then Ty was almost collapsing into Tony's chest, hugging him tight and leaving everyone else in stunned silence. Once the shock wore off, Tony wrapped his arms around Ty properly and held them close, feeling everything drain away to leave them calm again.

“I think I want that family… however messy it might be.”  
“I’ll remind you that you said that when Cap finds out about you.”   
“You mean Steve? Yeah, he’s a pretty nice guy. Weird, but nice.”

As Ty pulled away from the hug, a half formed smile pulling at their mouth, Tony could only glare around the room.

“How come _I_ was the last person in this tower to know about Ty?”

* * *

 

Ty didn’t seem to have much in the way of belongings, or at least that was the way it seemed when they only brought up a single, medium sized rucksack from the camper van; or maybe they weren’t planning on getting truly settled, just in case. Whatever the reason, it at least meant they didn’t need long to unpack.

“Hope you don’t mind living with all the other half-Avengers?”  
“No, this is kinda where I wanted to end up anyway…”

Avenger’s Tower may no longer be the official headquarters, but that only meant it was perfect for all of the random initiates that Cap and Hawkeye had deemed fit to join the Avengers, but weren’t quite ready for actually joining anyone on a mission. Tony had figured out early on that staying in the tower meant he could have just as much spot light as he wanted, and that he could invite other scientists in to help him on his latest project without compromising all of the Avengers deepest secrets.

“Well, if you keep baking cookies, I’m sure you’ll be everyone’s friend.”  
“I’ll need to fix the oven first, someone keeps breaking it, which is why the place always stinks of takeaway pizza.”

Tony took a deep breath, and smelt what Ty was talking about: the place really was starting to smell like a college dorm, but seeing as most of the people living here were that age, he really wasn’t all that surprised. The inside of Ty’s camper had been immaculate, which was shocking considering how tiny it was and that two people lived in it. Ty seemed to be a little bit of a neat freak: the way every t-shirt had to be folded exactly the same way, with military straight edges and how everything seemed to be given a place.

“Though normally we get along just fine, they look forward to wednesday nights when they get a proper meal.”  
“Seriously, how did everyone in this tower know about you and not tell me?”   
“Not everyone knew, and most of them still don’t know just who I am in relation to you…”   
“Hey, no worries. But you aren’t an Avenger yet, you got that?”   
“Course, I’m not a good fighter anyway. But I can help you with everyone gadgets….?”   
“Sounds like the perfect plan kid.”

* * *

 

Tony woke up to find that Loki was actually still there for a change, having snuck back in after Tong had managed to get to sleep; waking up together still wasn’t a common experience, mainly because Loki had his own room he was meant to be staying in on a completely separate floor.

“Mornin’ Antlers…”

No actually words in response, just something resembling a grumble and Loki buried his face in covers. For all that grace and grandeur the rest of the time, Loki really wasn’t a morning person and there was nothing you could call graceful about the mess of black hair and childlike hiding under the covers, but it was adorable. Not that Tony had ever said that more than once, when he was reminded that perhaps he wanted to be thrown out of a window: again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so long for me to write and I'm sorry, but it's nearly christmas and that means lots of spare time for writing! I'm aware that there hadn't been much Frostiron in this story so far, and not much Loki even really, but that's gonna change! I promise! I am also working on a Spideypool story that will be set in connection with this story. Not so heavily that you couldn't just read one, but they will be linked.


	5. Kittens and Revalations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I may have seen a cute tumblr post and kinda based this chapter off it... just a little bit… okay quite a lot. So thanks to whoever it was that posted that cute picture and whoever commented on it. I think I managed to get the picture to show up properly. Also, two chapters in one night!

“Sir, there is a delivery in reception for you.”   
“Just send it up like normal.”   
“It requires your signature.”   
“Fine, send them up with it.”

Two minutes later, as Tony was sipping on coffee and editing the newest design for a web-shooter, lounged out on the sofa. The elevator dinged and a twenty something year old girl walked in, delicately holding a large cardboard box with a clipboard under one arm. She very gently set the box down on the coffee table and handed Tony the clipboard and a pen. There wasn’t anything on the form that seemed to indicate what was in the box, it was just a proof of delivery form, and Tony was about to sign it on instinct until he heard the box meow.

“Uhm, hey. Just what exactly is  _ in _ that box?”

The girl shrugged, and Tony threw the clipboard down on the sofa next to him, sitting up to open the box, revealing a half a dozen kittens which all turned to look up at him and mew.

“Er, what?”

She shrugged again.

“Friday, tell me this is someone playing a joke.”   
“Negative sir, you ordered half a dozen mini bengals 11 days ago.”   
“I’m sorry, but what? Friday, do I need to run a diagnostic on you?”   
“You’re exact words were: ‘Friday, get me a half-dozen’ “- he hiccuped on the recording - “‘mini’” -another hiccup- “‘baengals!’ I assumed that by mini you meant baby, as your blood alcohol concentration at the time was an estimated .11%”   
“Friday, you really think I would drunk order cats?! Rather than, I don’t know, the pastries that have a hole in the middle known as  _ bagels _ ?”   
“I believe I may have made an error in my interpretation of your slurred speech sir.”

Tony was glaring angrily and rubbing at his forehead, when the elevator dinged again. Looking up revealed it was Ty, who was wearing their customary all black, hoodie included, and looking more than a little confused at the scene.

“What’s going on?”   
“That’s a bloody good question Ty.”

The kittens took that moment to mew loudly and one started to climb out of the box onto the coffee table, stumbling around as she sniffed at the glass and quickly found her way on top of one of Loki’s books to protect her paws from the cold glass.

“Is that a bengal kitten?”   
“Apparently so. There’s five more in the box.” Tony grumbled into his hand, screwing his eyes closed and wondering if this was all some sort of crazy dream.

“Antony, why can I hear meowing?”   
“I tried to drunk order bagels and Friday got me cats.”

Opening his eyes and looking round, Tony saw that Loki was dressed in what had become his normal, casual attire around the Tower: dark green shirt open at the collar and black jeans. But Loki didn’t seem to have heard Tony’s explanation, he was staring very intently at something, and when Tony followed his gaze, he understood exactly why.

Ty was sat cross-legged by the coffee table, a kitten in their lap sleeping, one scrambling around on their shoulder trying to climb up onto their head and they were playing and fussing a third one still sat on Loki’s book, making her purr like a tiny steam-engine. The biggest, most genuinely happy smile was plastered across their face.

Picking up the clipboard, Tony scrawled his signature across the paperwork and handed it back to the girl still standing there, barely looking at her as she left. Ty seemed to notice the movement as she stepped into the elevator, looking round at Tony questioningly.

“I thought you ordered them by accident?”   
“Yeah, but I guess they make a happy surprise.”

Ty smiled again, and it was only then that they seemed to notice that Loki was there, and the smile faded instantly.

“I think that I shall leave, there is business I should attend to with Th-”   
“Wait.”

Both men looked round at Ty, still sitting on the floor and staring at the kitten struggling to climb out of the box. They scooped it up into their arms, cradling it close and rubbing behind it’s tiny ears until it purred.

“You might as well be my step-dad, we both live in this tower so there’s no point trying to avoid each other… I don’t like you, but I realise that it was a little unfair of me to… to blame you for what happened. It was my fault, my powers, that caused it all to happen anyway.”   
“Ty, there is no need for you to tolerate my presence-”   
“Hold up you two, bring me into the loop here. What did you two do to each other?”

Silence for a long while, interrupted only by the kittens, oblivious that their mewing was very much disrupting the seriousness of the situation happening around them.

“I offered Ty my assistance in learning to handle their powers, believing that they had already showed themselves to their full extent, when in fact they had barely begun to surface.”   
“And then proceeded to blast me with some sort of magic that made my mutation go haywire, probably what screwed up my genetics so badly no one even believes my DNA is human, and then refused to leave me alone for the next few years until I finally proved I really didn’t need his help using my powers.”

The anger was barely masked in Ty’s voice, and it was clear they were forcing an illusion of calm; Loki did look a little ashamed of his hand in the situation but he clearly didn’t feel any guilt for it.

“Wait, so you think Antlers is the one that screwed up your magic?”   
“It’s not magic, it’s a mutation. Just because they can isolate the X gene because he did who knows what to by DNA doesn’t mean I have magic. Humans can’t have magical powers, that’s ridiculous.”

Now Loki looked very guilty indeed, and it didn’t take Ty or Tony long to pick up on the unease radiating off of him; spending so long around humans, Loki had finally given up trying to hide all the emotions he’d hidden when in Asgard.

“You know what, this is ridiculous. Ty, you ever get anywhere trying to find out who your mum was?”   
“No… I assumed she was some drunken one night fling you had that you don’t remember, seeing as how you haven’t mentioned her and no one in this tower seemed to have any idea who your were dating at the time.”   
“Yeah, that’s because I was dating this guy right here.” Tony said, gesturing across at Loki, who seemed to be considering whether it was best to let Tony to carry on or throw him out of the window. Ty looked utterly confused, looking between them both.

“You ever hear of the norse horse Sleipnir?”   
“Well, yeah. He was Odin’s eight legged horse… something about a hoof in each realm? He was born after Loki pretended to be a mare to distract some builder guy’s stallion so the gods didn’t have to pay for it. Why is that relevant?”

Tony looked down at Ty’s confused face, then at Loki’s face of anger, before starting to gesture wildly as he spoke.

“Loki- pretended to be a lady- just like the mare thing- and then things happened- and like with the stallion- and like Sleipnir-” he finished with a vague gesture at Ty, who at some point had pieced it all together and was steadily draining of all colour.

“So… Loki… is my mother?”   
“Yes, I am.”

Ty looked back at the kitten in their lap, eyes wide in shock as they processed everything, until Tony realised that Ty wasn’t moving: at all. Completely frozen up. In fact, it took them a full six and a half minutes before they blinked back into reality.

“I’m an idiot, I should have realised that.”   
“What?”   
“Excuse me?”

Ty looked round as both men stared in amazement: at how well Ty was taking this, how honestly calm they sounded, and the fact that there weren’t burning hot blue sparks flying in every direction.

“Well, I should really have realised. I never thought to run my DNA against Asgardian DNA, or would it be Jotunn DNA? I don’t remember much from when we did Norse Mythology in school. But it would explain why even the experts say my DNA doesn’t look like anything else on Earth. Though come to think of it, is there any DNA records of Thor or Loki or those other three that came down that other time?” Ty shrugged before continuing. “It also explains why they couldn’t find a mutant X gene, I don’t have one! It really is some sort of inherited magic, which makes almost less sense than human and god DNA being compatible enough to be viab-”   
“Wait a minute, you can just accept that into your world narrative without question or need of proof or  _ anything _ ?”   
“Well, it makes a lot of sense. It explains why I couldn’t find my mother: he’s the god who tried to take over the world by opening a portal to flying sky whales.”   
“In my defense, that was many years ago and before you were even conceived.”


End file.
